bored, and that’s when I thought about cleaning out my desk.”
“How did you get here?”
“By cab.”
“You took a cab from a hundred and seventh street?”
“That’s right.”
“Isn’t that expensive?”
“A little. But I don’t like taking the subway at night.”
“So you took a cab right to the door?”
“That’s right.” Amy unsnapped her purse. “In fact, I think I have the receipt.”
“You got a receipt?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“The driver gave me one, I shoved it in my purse. Oh, here it is.”
Amy pulled out the receipt, extended it to the cop. He took it, looked at it. If it meant anything to him, she couldn’t tell.
“So,” he said, “according to this, you got here at nine fifty-five.”
“That sounds about right.”
“How’d you get in?”
“Huh?”
“How’d you get in the door?”
“Oh. The downstairs door was unlocked. I turned the knob and it opened. The upstairs door was ajar.”
“You mean open?”
“Just a crack. But it was open. And the lights were on. I pushed it open and went in.”
“I see,” the cop said. He shifted forward in his chair, leaned on the desk. There was something intimidating in the gesture. “That’s how you got in. Because the door was open. But you didn’t know that. You didn’t know it was going to be open. So how were you going to get in?”
“I had a key.”
“Oh?”
“From when I worked here before. When they fired me, they forgot to ask me for the keys.”
“You had the keys all the time?”
“Yes, I did.”
“They never asked for them back?”
“When? It’s not like we parted friends. After they fired me, I never saw them again. I guess they just forgot about it.”
“That seems strange,” the cop said. “If you fire an employee for stealing, you don’t let them walk off with your keys.”
“They were partners. Maybe each partner thought the other one had them.”
“Maybe,” the cop said. He didn’t sound convinced, but he pushed on. “Anyway, you went into the office to clean out your desk?”
“Right.”
“But you
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I could tell at once something was wrong.”
“How was that?”
“Like I said. The door was open and the lights were on. That didn’t make any sense. Why would anyone be there at that hour?”
“Why indeed? So what did you do?”
“Stuck my head in and listened. But I couldn’t hear anything. So I called out, Hey, anybody here?”
“You did?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you do that?”
Amy frowned. “What do you mean, why? To see if anybody was here.”
“Yes, but you didn’t want to see those people. After all, they fired you.”
“Yes, but I’d beaten them in court. There was nothing more they could do to me. If one of them was there, I was going to announce my presence and clean out my desk.”
“I see. But no one answered?”
“Right.”
“What did you do then?”
“I went to clean out my desk.”
“Did you do that?”
“No.”
“And why was that?”
“I told you why?”
“Tell me again.”
“Because it had been robbed.”
“Robbed?”
Amy held up her hand. “All right. That’s a conclusion on part. The petty cash drawer was open and the petty cash box inside it was open and the money was gone.”
“You saw that then?”
“That’s right.”
“Before you found the body?”
“Yes. That’s what made me look around.”
“So you looked around, you went in Mr. Fletcher’s office, found him lying there?”
“That’s right.”
“Did you touch the body?”
“No.”
“Or anything else in the office?”
“Not that I recall.”
“What did you do?”
“I went back in the outer office and called the cops.”
“From where?”
“The phone on my desk.”
“I see. Did you sit down at your desk to call?”
“Of course not. I was too upset. I snatched up the phone and called nine one one.”
“Standing there in front of your desk?”
“Right.”
“You called the cops, you hung up the phone and then what did you do?”
“Nothing. I was so nervous I didn’t know what to do. I knew I shouldn’t touch anything. I didn’t want to be here, but I knew I couldn’t leave. I just kind of waited by the front door, kind of pacing up and down till the cops came. I guess it was just a few minutes. It seemed like forever.”
The cop nodded. “Okay,” he said. “Let me be sure I got this straight. You came here in a taxi, nine fifty-five. You paid off the taxi, stuck the receipt in your purse. You went inside. The downstairs door was unlocked. You came upstairs. The upstairs door was ajar and lights were on. You stuck your head in, called out, but no one answered. You came in to clean out your desk. You discovered the petty cash drawer open, the petty cash box open, and the petty cash gone. Is that right?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“Did you touch the petty cash box?”
“No.”
